About NOVA’s “Mind Over Money” In the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, NOVA presents “Mind Over Money” — an entertaining and penetrating exploration of why mainstream economists failed to predict the Crash of 2008 and why we so often make irrational financial decisions. It’s a show that reveals surprising, hidden money drives in us all and explores controversial new arguments about the world of finance. Before the current crash, most Wall Street analysts believed that markets are “efficient” — that investors are reasonable and always operate in their own self-interest. Most of the time, these assumptions of classical economics work well enough. But in extreme situations, people panic and conventional theories collapse.

In the face of the recent crash, can a new science that aims to incorporate human psychology into finance – behavioral economics — do better? “Mind Over Money” will recreate some of the new field’s most compelling experiments. We’ll see how the brains and bodies of Wall Street traders respond as they buy and sell stocks. We’ll watch as an ingenious experiment reveals how too many spending choices and the way they’re framed can overwhelm consumers’ ability to make rational decisions. Through entertaining real-life scientific experiments, NOVA will show how mood, decision-making, and economic activity are all tightly interwoven. By delivering unexpected insights from leading analysts and powerful experiments, “Mind Over Money” will reveal the mysterious and surprising nature of the two most powerful forces on our planet: the human mind and money. NOVA’s “Mind Over Money” will premiere on Tuesday, April 27, at 8pm on Thirteen/WNET.

About the Museum of American Finance The Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the nation’s only public museum dedicated to finance, entrepreneurship and the open market system. With its extensive collection of financial documents and objects, its seminars and educational programming, its publication and oral history program, the Museum portrays the breadth and richness of American financial and economic history. For more information, visitwww.moaf.org. To contribute to the Museum’s Recessipedia wiki on the current financial crisis, please visit www.recessipedia.org.